Ford, UAW Agree to Bargain Past Tonight’s Contract Expiration

Ford Motor Co. and the United Auto workers union agreed to bargain past tomorrow’s expiration of their current labor contract, Marcey Evans, a Ford spokeswoman,
id in an e-mailed statement. Photographer: Jeff Kowalsky/Bloomberg

Sept. 14 (Bloomberg) -- Ford Motor Co. and the United Auto
Workers agreed to bargain past tonight’s expiration of their
current labor contract while the union also pursues new labor
agreements at General Motors Co. and Chrysler Group LLC.

Ford declined to comment about details of its talks,
Marcey Evans, a Ford spokeswoman, said yesterday in an e-mailed
statement. The four-year contract expires at 11:59 p.m. New York
time. The union’s current contracts with GM and Fiat SpA-controlled Chrysler expire at the same time.

Typically, the UAW reaches an agreement with one automaker
and uses that accord to set the so-called pattern with the
others. The pattern for this year’s contract will be set by
“General Motors or Chrysler, but it will not be Ford Motor
Company,” Jimmy Settles, vice president of the union’s Ford
department, said in a posting on the union’s Facebook page.

Settles said that he informed Ford yesterday he would
extend the union’s current contract while not providing a
timetable for when a tentative agreement may be reached.

The Detroit-based UAW represents 113,000 workers at the
automakers. Union President Bob King has said he’s open to
compensation that may include lump-sum payments, rather than
raises, that are tied to profit sharing and achieving
productivity and quality goals.

Signing Bonus Proposal

The UAW proposed a signing bonus of $8,000 to $10,000 for
each member, four people familiar with discussions said last
week. Such a bonus may help sell the deal to union members
looking to be repaid for what King has estimated as $7,000 to
$30,000 in concessions they each gave since 2005.

Workers at Detroit-based GM, Ford and Chrysler received
signing bonuses of $3,000 after they ratified the current
contract in 2007. Prior to that, signing bonuses had been around
$1,000, Harley Shaiken, a labor professor at the University of
California at Berkeley, said last week.

Previous concessions included surrendering raises, bonuses
and cost-of-living adjustments as well as agreeing to a two-tier
wage system, where new hires are paid about half as much as
senior employees. With GM and Dearborn, Michigan-based Ford
profitable, workers have said they want to recover what they
gave up.

Workers at Ford have filed an “equality of sacrifice”
grievance against the automaker after salaried workers received
raises, tuition assistance and 401(k) matches last year. An
arbitration hearing on that dispute is scheduled for tomorrow.

No-Strike Pledges

UAW members agreed to a no-strike pledge at GM and Auburn
Hills, Michigan-based Chrysler as part of their U.S.-backed
bankruptcies in 2009. Unsettled disputes at the automakers are
to be decided through binding arbitration. Ford didn’t receive a
U.S. bailout and UAW members there went against the wishes of
union leaders and rejected a strike ban and arbitration.

The key issues are signing bonuses, increasing the $14-an-hour wage for new hires and investments in U.S. plants to secure
future work. GM executives have said that they want to tie
compensation to company performance targets, which the union has
traditionally opposed.

Chrysler Chief Executive Officer Sergio Marchionne said
yesterday the U.S. carmaker isn’t “close” to an agreement with
the UAW.

“I don’t have a contract,” Marchionne told reporters at
the Frankfurt motor show. “We are not near.”